I have never pruned tomatoes but equally never get very good crops.
Can someone give me detailed information on what is best. I am in
Berkshire, UK

From: (Richard)

I have never pruned tomatoes but equally never get very good crops.
Can someone give me detailed information on what is best. I am in
Berkshire, UK

Pruning is a waste of time and effort and accomplishes nothing but harm. If you
don't get good crops then compare to other gardeners in your area--is your
problem your own or is it just that one cannot grow much of a tomato in the UK
or at least your part of it. if others are doing better then you must describe
your cultural practices to see where you may be going wrong.

Pruning is advantageous for trellised tomatoes
You want them to grow only one or 2 stems so tying to the trellis is easier
Dick Raymond, Joy of Gardening, recommends pinching off the suckers that
grow out from the stems, right above leaf branches. He feels that by
restricting the vine growth somewhat you get bigger tomatoes.

You don't want to restrict too much leaf growth tho so the fruit gets enuf
shade.

--

Barry


"Frankhartx" wrote in message
...
From: (Richard)

I have never pruned tomatoes but equally never get very good crops.
Can someone give me detailed information on what is best. I am in
Berkshire, UK

Pruning is a waste of time and effort and accomplishes nothing but harm.
If you
don't get good crops then compare to other gardeners in your area--is your
problem your own or is it just that one cannot grow much of a tomato in
the UK
or at least your part of it. if others are doing better then you must
describe
your cultural practices to see where you may be going wrong.

I think you'll find that the tomato is possibly the most grown veg in the
UK! (Well, I reckon anyway). It does wonderfully here, apparently better
than alot of places where it is naturally found.

We have always pruned our tomato's so that the fruit gets full sun for most
of the day, that way they riped quicker and grow bigger.

Charlie.

"Frankhartx" wrote in message
...
From: (Richard)

I have never pruned tomatoes but equally never get very good crops.
Can someone give me detailed information on what is best. I am in
Berkshire, UK

Pruning is a waste of time and effort and accomplishes nothing but harm.
If you
don't get good crops then compare to other gardeners in your area--is your
problem your own or is it just that one cannot grow much of a tomato in
the UK
or at least your part of it. if others are doing better then you must
describe
your cultural practices to see where you may be going wrong.

Are you trellising them or letting them ramble. If putting them on a
trellis, how far apart do you plant?

"Richard" wrote in message
om...
I have never pruned tomatoes but equally never get very good crops.
Can someone give me detailed information on what is best. I am in
Berkshire, UK

In article says...
I have never pruned tomatoes but equally never get very good crops.
Can someone give me detailed information on what is best. I am in
Berkshire, UK

I grow tomatoes in containers and my crop last year consisted of small
tomatoes and the vines started looking horrible near the end. This year
I decided to prune. I searched on pruning tomatoes in google and found
this site:

http://www.growinglifestyle.com/article/s0/a109621.html

Very interesting. I did prune a week ago and my plants look very good
right now.

Here's a more philosophical site about pruning tomatoes. :-)

http://gci.gospelcom.net/dw/2001/08/08/

First off, can you tell us what you're experiencing as far as not
getting good crops? Are the plants themselves puny, or do they flower
but not come to fruition, come down with a disease, or what?

I don't believe pruning will do anything to invigorate your plants. I
rarely prune mine at all, and when I do, it's simply to keep them
within the confines of the garden. As many in this newsgroup have
advised, a good canopy of tomato leaves will shield ripening tomatoes
from the hot summer sun which can scald your tomatoes.

The first step toward any successful gardening is preparing the soil.
Make sure your soil has plenty of organic matter (compost), and I also
add plenty of composted manure and peat moss to my garden each spring
before I plant my crops. I grow my tomatoes in a raised bed, which
they seem to love.

Tomatoes like warm temperatures, so don't plant them out in the garden
until the nights remain consistently above 55 degrees. Also, give
them plenty of water, but don't get the leaves wet. Splashing water
can spread disease on the leaves, and depending upon the variety,
tomatoes can be fairly susceptible to all kinds of ailments.

Don't fertilize them until they actually set fruit (when you see
little tomatoes on the plants). Otherwise, the plant will use the
fertilizer to produce more foliage and you may never get tomatoes!
Some compost tea or manure tea mid-summer, after they've set fruit,
would be a welcome treat for them.

Experiment with different varieties. Right now I have 6 different
varieties, heirlooms and hybrids, growing in a 4'x4' space. It's
formed one monster tomato bush, but I've got all kinds of lovely
tomatoes happily growing in the tangled mass of leaves.

Best o' luck.

-Fleemo




(Richard) wrote in message . com...
I have never pruned tomatoes but equally never get very good crops.
Can someone give me detailed information on what is best. I am in
Berkshire, UK

"Richard" wrote in message
om...
I have never pruned tomatoes but equally never get very good crops.
Can someone give me detailed information on what is best. I am in
Berkshire, UK

Pruning implies shaping, which I do not do. What I do is remove the suckers
or the growth between branches.
Frank

Your particular breed of tomato could have a good deal to do with this as
well. Some types of tomatoes prefer higher or lower daytime and nighttime
temperatures. Some generally do not produce very many tomatoes, while others
(particularly hybrids) will produce many many tomatoes. Rainfall and your
watering habits can affect output. Also the question of fertilizer is a
serious one. Too much fertilizer or even organics (manure, compost, etc.)
can provide too much nitrogen to your plants causing them to use much of
thier energies toward foilage growth. Many sources in fact recommend AGAINST
using manure or compost with tomatoes. A serious lack of calcium in the
soil can retard plant development, too much sodium can have the same effect.
Too like phosphorus can cause poor root development which can definately
affect fruit development. If you have poor flowering than magnisium could be
a problem as this is crucial to flowering in many plants, including
tomatoes. If the area you live in recieves large amounts of rain annually,
over 1 meter, the nutrients I mentioned above can be leeched from your soil.
Traditional fertilizers do not replenish these either. Calcium is highly
reactive in some mixtures and so cannot be packed into your standard NPK
fertilizers. Magnesium salts are sold that can be mixed and sprayed on your
plants to replenish this and encourage flowering (and thus more tomatoes).

I am sure tomatoes can do well anywhere when properly tended. However its
important to consider that the conditions in your garden are going to vary
from those of your neighbors, sometimes just a bit, sometimes considerably.
The other plants in your garden, certain trees (black walnut in particular)
can affect the health of plants near them.

All these things, and many I have not mentioned, and many others have can be
factors. Consider these. Test your soil, be sure its not TOO fertile, or
that it is fertile enough. Also consider your expectations. You say you get
poor crops but do not give figures. You may feel your getting poor crops by
are simply not be aware of the true output of your plants.

As to pruning, that is an age old argument. Its not NECCESARY to prune
tomatoes to recieve ample crops. Some choose to do it due to space and other
considerations, are simply out of habit. Others do not. I personally would
not prune unless I was having issues with space, or my plants were
particularly unruly. I know those that do prune who have results similar to
mine without pruning. So mostly I would say its a matter of choice,
convienience and practicality.

"Richard" wrote in message
om...
I have never pruned tomatoes but equally never get very good crops.
Can someone give me detailed information on what is best. I am in
Berkshire, UK